Meat on Wheels: A Taking Action Investigation

Meat on Wheels! Sounds like a tasty and convenient option for dinner. But some consumers have a bone to pick with a door-to-door sales company making the rounds across the Tennessee Valley. It’s called Steakhouse Supply, and the company is from Lafayette, Louisiana.

Mary Powell of New Hope says their sales pitch was fast, but it didn’t take long for her to feel buyer’s remorse — especially after the salesman called her back an hour after leaving. Powell said he claimed her check couldn’t be cashed.

“Next thing I knew, said Powell, he was asking for my credit card.” With money in the bank, Mary’s guard went up, especially after learning she’s not the only consumer to complain.

Right now the BBB in Lafayette, Louisiana is reporting an ‘F’ rating on the company with 49 closed complaints in the last three years. Twenty-seven complaints were closed in the last 12 months.

Complaints range from problems with the product, advertising issues and guarantee promises.

Powell personally has beef with the product. She says the cuts of meat she purchased are poor quality and she was promised 50 steaks. We counted 50 cuts of meat including burgers. Another issue, Powell pointed out, was the truck delivery method.

“I was standing over at the kitchen and when he pulled out, Powell said. “I thought, he’s not even in a refrigerated truck.”

President Michele Mason of the BBB of North Alabama says whether or not the company has maintained the meat at a temperature that would be required consistently is questionable.

“The consumer just doesn’t know,” said Mason. “Consumers haven’t been able to locate the company to verify one way or another.”

WHNT News 19 spoke to the owner of Steakhouse Supply, James Nations.

“We have a full one year warrantee on everything we sell,” said Nations. “We will replace our exchange any of our packages no questions asked.”

But the Huntsville address on the Steakhouse Supply Brochure where it touts that claim is not a working mailing address. WHNT News 19 had difficulty even finding a sign where their warehouse is located in Huntsville.

Nations said he’s working fixing that, as well as improving his fleet image.

“We are concerned and the work has already started,” said Nations. “Huntsville is a beautiful city and we apologize for the eyesore and it will be fixed.”

Nations went on to say that all of his meat trucks are refrigerated.

As to the product, Nations had this to say:

“We carry several grades of beef included USDA choice, USDA Select, and commercial or restaurant grade. We also carry in limited quantity USDA Organic and USDA, Prime, but due to their high cost a lot of our customers seem to be more interested in saving money, making them purchase more of our value-based packages.”

For now, Nations said the company will continue doing business in the area. They say they are working to repair their reputation with the BBB and their sales approach with consumers.

But Mary Powell says she’s still wary and from her personal experience has this advice for other consumers.

3 comments

I had the same thing happen to me about 2 weeks ago…I tried to stop payment on my transaction, but because I used my debit card, it had already been presented to the bank and all they could do was file a dispute which I did. As of today, I still haven’t heard back from my bank. I